By Published by The Editorial Board
Published: December 21, 2008
The Virginia Coal and Energy Commission’s Uranium Mining Subcommittee has to ask the right questions about uranium mining in Virginia.
Anything less would only perpetuate the controversy of the past year — and lead to a study that is not only incomplete, but has the potential to steer state policy onto the wrong path.
To its credit, the Halifax County Chamber of Commerce has cut through the clutter to come up with a 131-page report that includes a concise but clear listing of the concerns that the state must address right now. While the document is long, most of it contains supporting information to back up four main areas of concern: health and environment, economic effects, the scope and methodology of the state study and quality of life.
“So far, I’ve only received positive feedback from people,” said Nancy Pool, president of the Halifax County Chamber of Commerce. “They feel it’s very thorough and comprehensive. … We believe we have covered all the bases.”
Pool was joined on the chamber’s Uranium Study Group by a dental surgeon, a county teacher with a master’s degree in physics, a retired executive, a public health nurse and the chair of the Dan River Basin Association’s Mining Task Force.
The chamber of commerce became involved in the uranium mining issue after Delegate Clarke Hogan asked it to help organize the issues of concern local people had about uranium mining in Pittsylvania County.
While the chamber’s work is impressive, it is by no means the last word on the scope of the state study. The Uranium Mining Subcommittee will accept written comments on the issue through Dec. 29, and the subcommittee will hold a public hearing at Chatham High School on Tuesday, Jan. 6.
Clearly, Dan River Region residents still have plenty of opportunities to shape the scope of the state study on uranium mining.
The Halifax chamber’s Uranium Study Group encountered one problem that the Coal and Energy Commission’s Uranium Mining Subcommittee will have to deal with: Redundancy. So many people have an interest in so many of the same issues surrounding uranium mining that it’s easy for a lot of people to ask for many of the same things to be studied.
That’s one reason the Halifax chamber’s Uranium Study Group is such a good guide to the core issues. Consider this from the report’s conclusion:
“Our citizens accept that the idea of safe mining is possible. However, prudence and experience demand a thorough consideration of what could happen in practice if human beings undertake uranium mining, milling, and tailings storage in Virginia. For this, Virginia would do well to look squarely at existing operations and communities and face the realities of today’s uranium industry. [emphasis original...SB]
“The results of a study will depend heavily on whether commissioners and researchers look beyond good ideas and good intentions and focus on evidence from experience.
“It is not rational, realistic, or scientific to presume that mine operators in Virginia — however ingenious, honest, professional, hard-working, caring, responsible, and patriotic they may be — would do better than other experienced professionals already involved in modern, regulated uranium mining.
“Virginia’s climate and population density would add considerably to both the risk of failures and the consequences of those failures.”
Thus, the state’s uranium mining study has to look at “whether the state should create a situation that carries with it the potential for real risks to real people and the environment, as well as affecting people’s right to the safe enjoyment of their property.”
We’re encouraged that the Coal and Energy Commission’s Uranium Mining Subcommittee will come to our community so early in the process to ask local people about their concerns about this controversial, complex issue. But the Halifax County Chamber of Commerce has already pushed the state study forward by presenting a comprehensive, fact-filled report that should help guide the subcommittee’s work.
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